As we head into Father’s Day on Sunday, here are some interesting facts to share:
Dad good
for economy
— but not like mom.
According to IBISWorld, a publisher of business research, Americans are expected to spend $11 billion on gifts for Father's Day in 2008. This is about $7 billion less than the amount spent on moms for Mother’s Day. In economic terms, the average per capita spending on Father’s Day is expected to be in the range of $27.60.
How Father’s Day evolved
During a church sermon on Mother’s Day in 1910, a woman named Sonora Smart Dodd realized her father had been both mother and father to her since her mother had died in childbirth.
The hardships and sacrifices he endured raising her and her five brothers needed to be recognized. She thought there had to be other fathers whose feats of parenting had gone unnoticed.
She proposed to a group of ministers in Spokane, Wash., a special Father’s Day should be observed. She suggested the festivities be on her father’s birthday, June 5. The ministers liked the idea but had to move the date of the celebration forward two weeks to June 19 in order for them to prepare sermons for the new celebration.
Father’s day didn’t gain national acceptance as quickly as Mother’s Day. In 1916, President Woodrow Wilson and his family celebrated the June 19th Father’s Day. President Calvin Coolidge recommended in 1924 that states hold their own Father’s Day observances.
It wasn’t until 1957 when Sen. Margaret Chase Smith wrote a scathing letter to Congress stating, in short, it was a most grievous insult to honor one parent and not both.
Another decade and a half went by before Father’s Day became an official observance. Sixty-two years after it was first proposed, president Richard Nixon signed the document making it official.
Show me the card
Father’s Day is the fifth largest in greeting card sales. About 85 million cards are exchanged each year.
A recipe only
dads would love:
Doughnut Burger
1 1/2 pounds ground beef
3 tablespoons freshly chopped parsley leaves
2 tablespoons grated onion
House seasoning (recipe follows)
2 tablespoons butter
3 eggs
6 slices bacon, cooked
3 hamburger buns
6 glazed doughnuts (preferably Krispy Kreme)
House seasoning:
1 cup salt
1/4 cup black pepper
1/4 cup garlic powder
Mix ingredients together.
Mix the ground beef, chopped parsley and grated onion together in a large mixing bowl. Season liberally with House Seasoning. Form 3 hamburger patties. Heat a large cast-iron skillet over medium-high heat and spray with non-stick cooking spray. Add the burgers and cook until desired temperature, 4 to 5 minutes per side for medium-rare. Fry bacon in a hot pan until crisp. Remove and drain on paper towels. Set aside. While burgers are cooking, heat a non-stick pan over medium heat. Add 2 tablespoons butter. Crack 3 eggs into the pan. Cook until the yolks are just set and still slightly runny and remove. Place burger patties on the glazed doughnuts, as the buns. Top each burger with 2 pieces of bacon and a fried egg.
